At 7:15, the Board held a public hearing on Town of Wawarsing Budget for 2007. Few questions were asked and Supervisor James Dolaway did most of the talking.

Supervisor Dolaway announced that Town Taxes will go up on residents inside the Village of Ellenville by 7.06% while taxes on residents outside of the Village of Ellenville will go down by 3.66%.

The reason for this, Dolaway explained, is due to the fact that certain revenue streams that initially existed in the "A" fund (or the fund that provides services to Ellenville and other parts of the Town) had been placed in the "B" fund (the fund that provides services only to those residents outside of the Village of Ellenville). One such stream, the Town's cable franchise fees, was placed in the "B" fund because Ellenville has its own licensing agreement with Time Warner Cable. So, instead of that revenue being used throughout the Town, the revenue was used to suppress tax increases only for those residents outside of the Village.

Unfortunately, the news was not all positive for Town residents. Those living in the Kerhonkson Sewer District will see a 49.38% hike in taxes next year. That means someone who was living in a house assessed for $1,000 this year and paid $287.19 in sewer taxes this year will be paying $429.01 in sewer taxes next year. The large jump in cost is due to a reconstruction project on the sewer plant that is estimated to cost $1.6 million.

The budget was passed by a unanimous vote of 3-0.

• The Board was missing two of its five members last week with both Councilmen Gavaris and Geelan absent for the meeting. Thus, all of the resolutions or motions that were passed had to be passed by a unanimous vote.

• The Board voted to authorize the Supervisor to execute an agreement with the NYSDEC for the Town to issue General Residential/Land Clearing Restricted Open Burning Permit in the Town for 2007..

• The Board approved a special meeting on Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 3:30 pm at Town Hall for the purpose of discussing various issues with the Board of Trustees of the Village of Ellenville..

• The Town Board then held off certain votes or tabled resolutions due to the fact that the Board was missing two of its members..

• The Town Board approved the Town Supervisor to execute the 2007 contract between the Village of Ellenville, the Town of Wawarsing and the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County. The amount of the contract is not to exceed $45,643.00.

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